Do the bugs cost extra or are they free of charge?

It's been a bit since I've written here – that damn thing called life has a way of interfering and putting projects on hold.

Today I felt like addressing something that affects us all, something that at one point in time during our stay at this wonderful beloved base we have probably all bitched about.

The Commissary.

Our Commissary will never be featured on the Defense Commissary Agency's facebook's "Guess this Commissary" posts.

Now let me start off by saying that I am very grateful to have the commissary because without out would mean driving 45 miles to Walmart unless I wanted to pay out the ass at Albertson's in Rosamond. Since I can't afford a tub of Vaseline prior to the ass reaming that Albertson's prices cause and driving to Lancaster is less than desirable every time I realize I need Tampax or toilet paper, I'm glad that we have the convenience of the commissary on base.

With that said – shopping at the commissary is something that is a hit or miss.

The prices are great for the most part – especially when compared to Albertson's. The fact that we do not pay taxes when shopping at the commissary, even better. But beyond that, our commissary really lacks when compared to other commissaries on other bases.

I have a list of gripes that piss me off when it comes to our commissary. Maybe I shouldn't bitch and should be grateful that we even HAVE a commissary to begin with. However, some things that I have seen in my time here really makes me question some of the products, pricing and convenience that the commissary provides. My list is many but I will outline just a few.

Now, anyone who lives here at Edwards knows that this base is forgotten in time. While the family housing is newer, most of the other facilities are pretty old. Nothing can be done about this - with all the budget cuts I am sure that there is absolutely nothing in those government dollars to plan for a new commissary. Basically, we're stuck with what we've got and what we've got was probably built somewhere during the cold war. (Okay, probably not that long ago, but you know what I mean). 

Built around the same time as our commissary?

 Don't get me wrong, I'm not expecting floors that I can eat off of. However it becomes a problem when you walk into the building and its 90 degrees and humid as fuck in there. The swamp coolers, it seems, have also been affected by the furlough and are being forced not to work. It's not that I don't mind a little bit of sweat but the issue comes when food begins to spoil. 

 True story – the other day I went into the commissary to pick up some groceries and I came upon this packaged piece of salmon. Now, I love seafood and try to eat fish whenever possible. However, with our lack of selections (more about that in a minute), my disdain for Tilapia and my refusal to eat whatever the hell a “Milkfish” is, it's usually not something I purchase here. I pick up this package of “fresh” salmon and show my husband and then the smell hits us. If you've never smelled a piece of rotten fish before, its something you don't want to experience. There's two stages of fish stink - the first is that “fishy” smell, the second reeks of ammonia. This fish reeked of both. The label was not expired and I am willing to put money on the fact the fish was not like that when the meat department put it out. The issue was the fact that it was way too warm in the facility and the fish was placed in a cooling area that was not closed off, thus the fish was not kept cool enough and had spoiled. Unfortunate, all meat in our commissary is displayed the same way. 

Yup, it stinks that bad

 A second bitch I have comes in the form of produce. I'm very cautious when buying produce here and I have learned there are things you buy and things you do not buy here. Our commissary does a wonderful job of providing really fresh produce bought from local growers, albeit the selection could be better. However, smaller prepackaged produce such as raspberries – forget it, I won't buy them here. I bought a carton of berries one day to mix in pancakes and had to throw the entire batch out the following day because they were completely infested with hundreds of small bugs. I don't care how much you wash raspberries – you are not going to get all of those bugs out of them and while we enjoy our protein, I'd rather get it in the form of something without 6 legs. I've heard similar stories involving other produce such as Brussels spouts being infested with bugs as well so I know my unfortunate experience was not a one time only deal. 

My third bitch – selection or lack thereof. Do you ever pick up the military use only coupons that are at the commissary or do you use the commissary card that they threw at us constantly months ago where they talked about huge savings. These coupons are practically useless because half the time none of the things those coupons are for are in our commissary. Here's something to think about. Going back to the seafood selection – who the hell eats milkfish? Does anyone reading this actually buy milkfish? Nobody I know does. When the “Seafood Roadshow” shows up and I don't get there on the first day, they are almost always sold out of whatever form of catfish they have whether it be filets or nuggets. They also sell out of salmon and tuna. Why does the commissary not carry catfish? Why does it not sell fresh tuna steaks? Why the hell do they sell three different brands of milkfish and not fish that people are actually familiar with? This is particularly upsetting when you have the HAWC and the Clinic telling people how seafood is a very important part of a diet, rich in Omega-3 fatty acids for heart health yet our fresh seafood is limited to one shelf offering spoiled fish and a few frozen fish nobody is familiar with. While the selection issue involves much more than just seafood, its a prime example of where our commissary severely lacks. When there are more flavors and brands of ramen noodles taking up an entire aisle, more choices in what to feed our pets and more choices in cigarettes but very few choices by way of healthy proteins (not counting the bugs on the produce), especially in a community that preaches a healthy lifestyle, then maybe whomever orders for stocking needs to rethink what they are ordering. 

Finally, the prices. Granted, prices are better than the nearest supermarket which is Albertson's. But the trend seems to be that prices increase significantly right before payday, only to drop off again a few days later. There are items that I have learned to buy in the middle of the pay period so that I can pay the lower price. Pet food is one of these items – two days before payday the prices increase by almost a dollar, only to drop back to normal a week later. Another thing that I notice is that if a coupon is offered for savings on an item, that price will increase on that item. I noticed this the other day when the commissary had a stack of coupons for my usual coffee creamer zip tied right in front of the bottle of my liquid gold. Normally, the creamer that I purchase is $2.69 a bottle. The coupon displayed was for 40cents off but the price was increased to $2.99. Sure, I still saved 10 cents off what I normally pay but I still felt like we as a community were being screwed. Saving 40, 50, 60 cents on several items adds up quickly and helps keep money in our pockets and instead of allowing the military community to save that money, they instead increase the prices to circumvent the savings that might have been earned. I'm sure once the date of expiration on the coupons has passed, my creamer will once again be $2.69.

I try to keep an open mind when it comes to the commissary. The employees who work there have always been very nice and professional. And I know its an older, smaller building compared to the newer facilities on other bases. I understand that this limits the space in which they have to stock shelves. I do think it would be nice to see a lot more healthy items available in the forms of more produce, fresh baked goods made with whole grains rather than enriched flour, fresh (and unspoiled) selections of seafoods, and leaner cuts of meats such as maybe ground chicken breast in addition to the ground turkey. I'd love to see the swamp coolers replaced with an actual refrigerated A/C unit as swamp coolers are basically worthless when we have 100+ degree weather, causing food spoilage that we end up bringing home to our families. I'd like to see the prices stop fluctuating and leaving me feeling like I'm taking it up the ass just because its payday. 

If its around payday, you might need this

Most of all, I'd like for once to pull out of the commissary with a feeling of knowing that I was able to shop with our hard earned money to buy the best possible food choices I could have made because I was given more healthy choices rather than bypassing three quarters of the aisles containing nothing but junk.